A Melbourne gelato bar has been forced to apologise for creating “gender specific” flavours for men and women after a backlash on social media.

Pidapipo Gelateria, based in Carlton and Windsor, created the two flavours — one for each of the two genders — in partnership with fashion brands Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter as part of a Spring Racing Carnival promotion.

“Here are two gelato popsicles we’ve created,” read the original Instagram post, which has since been deleted.

“One for men and one for women. For men? Salted caramel with milk chocolate & malt crumb. For women? Strawberry rose with white choc & raspberry dust. Even better together.”

The store deleted the post after a number of negative comments, Fairfax reported, with one person describing the move as “tone deaf” and another saying “of course the women get a pink fruity one ... I’m shocked the men’s isn’t rum or some s***”.

In a follow-up post on Monday, Pidapipo Gelateria apologised.

“When we worked with @netaporter and @mrporterlive to create two distinct gelato flavours to represent their unique brands for an event last week, we absolutely didn’t intend for them to be interpreted as gender specific,” it said.

“The gelato flavours were designed to be consumed by everyone who attended the event. We recognise the concept and post were not thought out well and we are truly sorry for this confusion and any offence this may have caused.

“Pidapipo make gelato for everyone to enjoy — we believe it’s the right of everyone to eat whatever gelato they want ... whenever they want.”

Not everyone was satisfied, however. “The fact is you got on board with the idea and used it as content,” one user wrote.

“Don’t pretend like you had no idea your product was being used this way. The screenshots of the original post are out there and anyone who has seen the original post can tell this is a soggy attempt to deflect blame to @netaporter and @mrporterlive. Admit fault and grow! People will respect you for it.”

It’s not the first time a gelato bar has landed itself in hot water on social media. Earlier this year, N2 Extreme Gelato sacked its social media manager over a “careless and insensitive” Instagram post referencing “blackface”.

This article first appeared on news.com.au and was republished here with permission.

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